A memorable, romantic Christmas

It’s Throwback Wednesday thanks to now Canada-based Baby K. Jimenez who reminds your Funfarer and this corner’s readers of one memorable, romantic Christmas 46 years ago when a “royal” showbiz couple made a vow to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, ‘till death do them part.

Tomorrow, Christmas Day, Susan Roces will wake up reliving that day on Dec. 25, 1968, when she marched down the aisle of the Manila Cathedral in a Pitoy Moreno gown with Fernando Poe Jr. That church ceremony came only several days after they eloped. Then First Lady Imelda Marcos was among the principal sponsors.

“I was a ‘conspirator’ in that secret ‘operation,’” recalled BKJ who holds more “secrets” about the couple whose marriage abruptly ended on Dec. 14, 2004, when FPJ died of a heart attack. It was a fairy-tale wedding which was not rid of the trials experienced by any other couple — yes, “third parties” whose identities, though known to those in the showbiz circle, were revealed only during the vicious campaign when FPJ ran for president in 2004.

Now it can be told: During an LQ (Lovers’ Quarrel), Susan quietly left for abroad to cool off. FPJ wooed her back. Upon reaching home from the airport, Susan found their house bedecked with roses of all shades, with a top singer hired by FPJ to serenade her back.

Weeks after FPJ died, Susan recalled that she would sleep in FPJ’s pajamas on his side of the bed, hoping (against hope) that when she woke up, she would find him beside her. His ward- robe remained untouched for years (just don’t know if Susan has keep it that way or has decided to donate or give them away).

Thus, Christmas Day holds mixed memories for Susan who keeps a blown- up photo of a widely-smiling FPJ at the dream house she has shared with him, as if to say (to quote Humphrey Bogart addressing Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca), “Here’s looking at you, Kid!”